More often than not, second term governments are accused of lethargy and lacking in legislative focus, but such is not the case when it comes to Ontario's Tories. Instead the opposition is crying foul because it contends that Premier Harris and his team are on the equivalent of a legislative tear.

Over 35 bills have been introduced at Queen's Park since the session began in late October and at last count at least 10 have been passed. And we're not talking about trivial pieces of legislation, indeed some of these new laws are substantive and will have dramatic effects for generations to come.

Bill 7, the Taxpayer Protection and Balanced Budget Act is the most noteworthy. This is a legacy piece of legislation that forever prevents the current administration and future governments from running deficits lest they wish to be subjected to harsh financial penalties. Bill 7 also ensures that future provincial tax hikes will be subject to a binding, province-wide referendum.

Bill 14, More Tax Cuts for Jobs Growth and Prosperity, implements the various tax cut measures which were announced in last May's. These were never passed due to the calling of the election. Tax cuts will help ensure that Ontario's growth continues. Indeed, Finance Minister Ernie Eves recently updated provincial growth projections for 2000 from 3.7% to 5.0% real GDP growth.

Bill 23, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Statute Law, is an all-encompassing law. It transfers power from the Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) to the Minister of Health to continue hospital restructuring which began in the Tories' first mandate. But it also gives the Minister sweeping powers to close more hospitals, intrude into hospital administration or even fire hospital boards.

Health care governance in Ontario is tenuous at best but giving the Minister all sweeping power is not the answer. Radically reforming District Health Councils and Hospital Boards to reduce overlap and governance duplication would be a better start. The HSRC - while admittedly not perfect - challenged communities to look at health care as an integrated system beyond the confines of individual institutions. This has resulted in a better allocation and concentration of services in various communities, but more remains to be done. Fixing faulty governance structures must be part of the government's continuing plans for health care reform.

Bill 25, the Fewer Municipal Politicians Act radically redraws the municipal maps in Ottawa, Sudbury, Hamilton and Haldimand-Norfolk. By rationalizing local governments (from 34 to 5) in these four communities and consequently reducing the number of politicians (from 254 to 64) the Tories hope to end decades-old intra-municipal bickering and costly overlap and duplications in local service delivery.

While welcome, the Bill does not mandate new councils to pass on anticipated tax savings (some $121 million) directly to taxpayers nor does it encourage municipal privatization or alternate service delivery as the most efficient and effective way to achieve these savings.

So what should we expect in the new year To start, don't expect the legislature to return until March or April when the 2000 pre-budget debate takes centre stage. And long awaited changes to the Municipal Act are also in the offing.

Yet other important legislative challenges remain on the shelf. Besides health care governance and the shortcomings in municipal restructuring, privatization (LCBO, TVO and other government wide services) and property tax reform is still outstanding. These issues must be addressed in the new year.